Indian, US generic cos launch 'Coalition for Affordable Care'

Indian and US Companies making high quality, low cost generic pharmaceuticals announced the launch of ‘Coalition for Affordable Care’ in Washington on Wednesday.

This is to take head on big American pharmaceutical giants, which in the recent past had launched a strong anti-India campaign against efforts of such companies to provide affordable health care not only to people in India, but also in the third world countries.

Coalition for Affordable Care, being run by recently formed India First Group, has constituents like the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance that comprise of such prominent companies as Sun, Lupin, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Zydus Cadila and Ranbaxy, who are busy developing new drug discoveries and health treatments for their product pipelines.

The group alleged that forces backed by Big Pharma, including the most powerful special interest business lobby in the US, PhRMA, chaired by Pfizer’s Ian Reid, the Global Intellectual Property Center of the US Chamber of Commerce, and National Association of Manufacturers, continued their campaign to downgrade the reputation of these Indian pharmaceuticals.

This was in order to maintain their market share and destroy competition, the Coalition for Affordable Care said in a media statement, adding it aims to counter anti-Indian, negative advocacy campaigns in this regard.

"Over the past year, there has been a concerted effort underway in Washington to bash India and cast India in the poorest light -- on matters of intellectual property protection, on matters of quality, on matters of business credibility.

"Entire investigations have been launched by the US Government spurred on by the Big Pharma Lobby," said India First Group’s

Ron Somers.

"The plain fact remains that the United States and India must work together to develop healthcare delivery models that provide access -- not only for our own populations but for all humanity -- or else peace and stability will be compromised worldwide.

"It is in our shared interest to be working together on healthcare; the United States and India must partner in this noble effort," said Somers, former president of US-India Business Council.

India First Group’s mission will be to mobilise like- minded constituents who support access to low cost, high quality alternatives to what has become a cocktail of unaffordable branded medicines, the media note said.

Because of the excessive, high price of these medicines, treatment for most of the world’s population is now beyond the reach of even the common man, it said.

"With more and more American 'Baby-Boomers' requiring access to lower cost, high quality medical treatments and medicines, they join most of the world’s population – some five billion people -- finding themselves unable to afford even basic care," Somers said.

"The time has come to let the truth be known on Capitol Hill, in the halls of government, and across America, that Indian and US manufacturers of generic drugs are producing high quality medicines at a fraction of the price of branded pharmaceuticals,” he asserted.

"Short-sighted tactics and negative campaigns may have worked to preserve market share for these special interests previously, but history is not on their side," Somers added.